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Savage2's lucky to be released on Linux at this point. I think Savage2 used SpeedTreeCAD to manually create trees for the media, whatever UT3 uses is SpeedtreeRT itself to build and render the trees on load.

Of course, this post is absolute bullcrap guessing, then again it's all speculation so feel free to yank each sentence one by one with a quotebox for each and stare me down with it.

But still, the very idea of silly middleware holding a release hostage from people wanting to play it is very evil.

Maybe its the trademarked facial animation used by the characters what's keeping the linux client from being released.

It's not like those animations would have been good after all. I've seen better elsewhere. That said it's inhouse stuff as far as I know so that would be no problem. If it would be outhouse stuff it's a different topic so I'm still betting on GameSpy problems since this brute sits deep in the system and you can't really play that game unless you log in.

Savage2's lucky to be released on Linux at this point. I think Savage2 used SpeedTreeCAD to manually create trees for the media, whatever UT3 uses is SpeedtreeRT itself to build and render the trees on load.

I ask again : Do you have any valid grounds for your remarks?

Of course, this post is absolute bullcrap guessing, then again it's all speculation so feel free to yank each sentence one by one with a quotebox for each and stare me down with it.

More than happy to oblige there.

You see, you're facing off with people that work in the game development industry. We're a bit more familiar with the libraries in question. GameSpy's crap. I've dealt with the people in the past. They don't think very much at all of Linux in general- and they try not to let people use their stuff under Linux. Moreover, it's a pain in the backside. It wouldn't at all surprise me if this wasn't a piece of the puzzle.

If you don't have something along those lines, I suggest letting the subject drop on that one. No need to grasp at straws without some basis for the WAG being made.

But still, the very idea of silly middleware holding a release hostage from people wanting to play it is very evil.

Given how CRAP GameSpy is and how so many people seem to hate it (including developers it would seem) why hasn't someone come up with a 100% cross platform (i.e. Linux, Mac, Windows, XBOX 360, PS3 etc) replacement for it that isn't crap? And then start pushing it for newer titles?

@jonwil:
Why use such a crap in the first place? It's not like GameSpy would give the player anything important except a hot iron shoved into the backside. There's no replacement because it's useless crap. Unfortunately some developers didn't realize that yet.

@leilei:
Chances are it's because in Q4 it's not required to play except for multiplayer. Now I don't know how much this is true since I only tested Q4 for a short time ( Linux binary sucks major balls... sound troubles make your ears bleed ) but for playing the game single player no GameSpy is mandatory. So it might be very well that if GS is obligatory for the game to run that they can shot it caught in bed making love to Linux but if optional it might slip under the radar.

(Iirc etqw used it for accounts but of course as alaways I could be wrong)

Ever considered licensing costs? Each target costs you money on licensing in many of the middleware cases. Ever considered use-cases? It's use may be different on those titles and may have a different licensing deal.

There's a flat fee and sometimes a per-unit royalty involved with it's use- and it's a per-platform cost on at least the flat fee. If you're wondering why we don't see more Linux versions of the commercial stuff is partly because of this. Ever wondered why NWN didn't have the cutscenes and we had to hack them in ourselves? That's because BioWare didn't want to spend the additional $5-10k it would have cost them in licensing to RAD for Miles and Bink combined.

I'm not saying it is the cause. As you point out, it didn't hold up those other games. But, in the same breath, SpeedTree didn't cause issues with Savage2 either- so if you're going to invalidate the call of several people on GameSpy on that grounds, you can't use that one for your call on what's the hold up because it doesn't apply any better than GameSpy does at that point.